At 9 a.m. that Thursday, with flooding from remnants of Tropical Storm Lee threatening to cause an outage that could leave the facility without light or heat, the decision was made to evacuate, she said.

Several BARTA buses, large hospital wheelchair vans and many staff vehicles were used to temporarily relocate 190 patients to Norristown State Hospital, about 90 minutes away, and the rest to South Mountain Restoration Hospital near Chambersburg, Franklin County, about 21/2 hours away.

"To say that people pitched in is to speak mildly," said chief nurse executive Shirley M. Sowizral, who oversaw much of the transfer from the center for patients with serious and persistent mental illness.

Kepler said every person relocated had food and a bed, despite the two other hospitals having challenges of their own.

Management and staff at Norristown even helped with recreation and other activities to give patients as normal a stay as possible until their return to Wernersville on Tuesday, Kepler noted.

"This whole disaster made the three hospitals one," Sowizral said.

Jane Seidel, Kepler's assistant, noted that there was no record of Wernersville having had any similar evacuation.